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Dear friends,
As we enter 2025, following a very successful WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup and WBSC Premier12 last year, there is a strong sense of feeling that this year marks the start of the exciting road to the LA28 Olympic Games for Women’s Softball and Men’s Baseball.
It is 16 months since the IOC and LA28 Organising Committee confirmed both disciplines on the Olympic sports programme in Los Angeles and, with our preparation work continuing at pace, this year’s events calendar gives us an excellent launch pad towards LA28.
From the second edition of the WBSC Baseball Champions League in Mexico, World Baseball Classic qualifiers, the World Games in China and eBaseball through to three WBSC Softball World Cups, the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup and the WBSC U-12 and U-18 Baseball World Cups, it is hard to pick just one highlight.
At the forefront of this year’s softball calendar is the World Games in Chengdu, where the best Men’s and Women’s Softball teams in the world will compete for glory in August.
The WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Finals in Canada in July will give us a nice preview ahead of the men’s competition at the World Games so it will be interesting to see if Australia can defend their world title and then go on to make it a double at the World Games in China.
The WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Finals at the end of August also offer us a chance to watch some of the potential breakout stars who could feature in the LA28 Olympics. Likewise, many of the participants at the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup in Italy in June could play a vital role in Los Angeles in four years’ time, so definitely worth keeping an eye on the future stars of our sport.
As with softball, the WBSC U-18 Men’s Baseball World Cup offers vital ranking points and the stars of tomorrow the chance to make an impact on the international game ahead of LA28. After last year’s successful WBSC Premier12, WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup and WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup, we’re looking forward to witnessing more world class play from the stars of our game.
I’m also very proud of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup, one of the few international tournaments in any sport in this age group and can’t wait to see another exciting edition in Tainan (TPE) later this year.
The progress we continue to make with two of our newest disciplines, Baseball5 and eBaseball, will not stop in 2025.
The WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup will take place in Mexico this year ahead of the Youth Olympic Games next year in Dakar, Senegal, where history will be made with Baseball5 featuring for the first time. We’re hopeful a Baseball5 Refugee Team will be competing in Dakar, thanks to the WBSC Legacy Club, which has provided the opportunity for a team from the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan to practice and participate in our urban discipline. The second edition of the WBSC Baseball5 Youth World Cup in Mexico later this year will offer an insight into who might succeed in Senegal and play a key role in the qualification process.
Furthermore, conversations continue with multi-sport event organisers, including the European Games and Mediterranean Games, over the inclusion of Baseball5 at their events, showcasing our discipline’s increasing popularity around the world.
Finally, from a tournament standpoint, we will have another eBaseball Series this year, enabling us to continue to engage with a wider audience and maintain our position as one of the leading IFs in eSport. I am confident that following our work at the forefront of the Olympic Movement’s move into the eSports industry, WBSC eBASEBALL: Power Pros will play a key part in the forthcoming Olympic Esports Games, which will take place in Saudi Arabia.
Throughout these tournaments, I’m delighted that our athletes continue to be great role models and a wonderful source of inspiration for many around the world, across different communities and societies, as they showcase the best of international Baseball/Softball.
In other key developments, this year we welcome new Athlete Transfer Rules and World Ranking methodology as we as an organisation and as a sport continue to innovate and modernise to keep up with the times.
Importantly, the WBSC family will gather in Thailand towards the end of the year for our 2025 Congress to meet in person to discuss these innovations and our progress and re-focus our priorities for the future.
For now, I want to thank the WBSC Family for their continued work promoting our sport worldwide. We continue to take giant strides forward, growing our game and its disciplines and ensuring the future is bright for the global Baseball/Softball community.
This year, I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the entire WBSC family for the betterment of international Baseball/Softball, on a global scale, especially with that Olympic target in mind, the LA28 Games.